0 Talewadi: cascade in Mahadeyi river

... continuing from Talewadi - caves and a cascade.

Back at the hamlet we had figs straight off the tree. We would wipe them with our fingers, squeeze them open and look for tiny insects before eating. About half of what we plucked were thrown away.

This tree is a cattle post. When I asked if anyone has to herd them for grazing Ganapati told us that would not be needed. Cattle are let out from all homes at the same time, cows, calves and oxen group together and to grazing into the forest. They return before sunset and  go back to their homes. See- animals are not as dumb as we humans think.

Ganapati mentioned that these were good for eyes. I must have had ten figs.

The heat was tiring us. Ganapati suggested we go home for water.  Sitting in the portico of his house we had water. He asked us if we wanted to see a waterfall, about 2 kilometers walk. I was hesitant but decided to go. Balu decided to stay back and rest.

Sun was beating down, I pulled out my cap from the backpack. We took a different direction out of the village. About 500m away we crossed a dry stream bed. I was trying to imagine this place during rainy season. We entered the jungle but the path was wide and shaded. This is the road to Krishnapur. Deeper into the jungle Ganapati suggested we take a short cut. The path was interesting, this is where he mentioned that British officers stationed in Talewadi came to the river for bath. Down the hill, we rejoined the road and in the distance I could hear water gushing down rock beds. There we are- Mahadayi river. It's also spelled Mhadeyi. The river is about 25 to 30 feet wide. A heap of rocks form a causeway across the stream.

That's the cascade. the sounds of water gushing down  these slopes was music.

Water collects into a pond down there and then flows deeper into the jungle, flows by Krishnapur and then into Goa.

A bend in the slope. Water collects into a little pool with a little cave.

Ganapati and Manju settle themselves into a shaded spot by the water. I was in mind to sit, I went down the rocks exploring the spot.

A mini swimming pool.

I think this is Kakada flower, jungle variety.

 The buds are pinkish but the flowers are white. Beautiful!

Ganapti asked if we wanted to bathe. Manju said if he knew this he would have brought a change of clothes. Next time. It was time to move on, tummies were growling. Ganapati had dropped our water bottle in the stream for it to cool off. He's quite a character. We would address him as Kaka ~ Uncle.

Not sure what this is ...dried fern leaves?

A micro-mini waterfall in the background and twin baby pools in the foreground. Just behind the waterfall is the causeway, Talewadi to left and Krishnapur to the right.

On the way back to Talewadi we met a group of women and kids. Ganapati knew them, we stopped.   They had walked from the forest check-post (about 8km from here) and they had to walk another 8km to Krishnapur. The youngest of the group, a boy of  8 or 9 looked tired but he had no choice. An elderly lady who looked like his granny had a 300ml PET bottle with water. We gave them our 2l PET bottle, the boy's granny smiled thankfully.

On the way back, Ganapati wanted to show us a spot where a British era bungalow stood once. Whoever had it built wanted to spend his evenings looking at the sunsets over the hills and forests. That's our path back to the hamlet. Ganapti told us numerous stories from his life. We should come here and spend few days, listening to his stories.

Back home, Ganapati offered us to have lunch. We were hesitant, did not want to give them extra work but their hospitality is irresistible. Balu called Ganapati's wife as Kaki ~ Aunty. Lunch was rice, thili-saru and sliced onion. Simple and tasty.  Rice was home grown, no chemical fertilizers in it. Pur air, pure water and pure food. May God bless these people with this life for years to come.

As we sat back and relaxed Ganapati' brother Sateri joined us. We spoke about their agricultural practices and life. They had to guard their fields at night against animal attacks. Besides agriculture they harvest forest produce like cashew, honey, spices like daalchini, etc. Talking about honey, I bought about 3kg honey. Pure jungle honey.

For Balu it was hard to imagine how they spent time in the evenings. I told them that I would come again and stay here few days. I noted down his contact numbers. I felt good to have friends from a hamlet in Western Ghats.

Having seen two human settlements without electricity in XXI century was something. In a way they are lucky.

Back home, I ran the honey through fine sieve to filter our bits of wax. The taste was better than the  Dabur or Feaster  honey I regularly use.

.........

Detail: Talewadi: cascade in Mahadeyi river

0 Talewadi - caves and a cascade

April 7, 2012

The drive from Degaon to Talewadi was a rough one. We had to get off at a uphill stretch and guide our cabby Balu. Indica's wheels spun before gripping the rocky-dirt patches. Balu proved to be talented driver. Soon we were driving a flat stretch of dirt road. We saw a couple of thatched roof huts but no humans in sight. Balu caught a movement in one of the huts. We stopped to check if this was Talewadi. Slowly, very cautiously two women, one elderly and one middle aged, emerged from huts. I said namaskar and asked for directions to Talewadi ...the elderly pointed down the road- a little further you'll see two more houses. Barely 250m away, after a bend a road was Talewadi.

These two milestones, a mile away from each other, are from the British era. Distance shown is in miles. These are real milestones. Places mentioned are Belgaum, Shirol, Khanapur and Talewadi.

Right next to the milestone (Talewadi 0) was a house and another one on a small hillock across the road. We saw a man emerge out of the house on the hillock. He was surprised to see us and even more surprised to see an Indica in his village. I introduced myself and the purpose of our visit- Krishnapur caves and Bheemaghad fort.  But since it was a bit too late to reach Krishnapur and Bheema, we'll plan that some other day. Can you show us Talewadi's cave? Yes. Our friend Sateri Dabale called out to his brother Ganapati Dabale and asked him to take us to the cave. Wow! What a host.

We took the Indica for another kilometer and parked at a dead end. From there we entered the jungle. Ganapati led the way, a narrow shaded path, it was silent except for birds and insects going about their chores noisily. Suddenly the shaded path ended and we were out in the open. The path winded through rocks and descended into a wide valley. The cave was neatly hidden behind a  clump of trees. The picture below is a screen shot from a video I made.

A short video of our walk through the jungle to the cave.

The cave's mouth is completely hidden by trees. A narrow path from the side led us into the cave. We approached it cautiously, Ganapati would ask us to walk in a single file as close as possible to the rocky wall to our right, in case we encountered an animal it'l have enough place to pass by. Memories of my visit to Tenginkalbetta came to my mind, our guide had told us animals tend to attack when encountered face to face. They rarely bother when seen to the sides. Slow steps, holding our breaths, we took the first step into the cave. It had a scary look, the innards dark and uninviting.

Ganapati checks if any beast was hiding behind these rocks. No, nothing. Than he told us about a snake he had seen years ago. We spoke in hushed tones.

Feeling confident, we relaxed a bit. The portion behind the group looks ideal for animals to lie down for sleep. No wonder Ganapati checked it.

We decide to explore deeper into the cave. The silence got thicker with every step. We could barely speak with the tension. Ganapti asked if we had a torch. We fished out my LED torch and handed it over to Manju since my hands were full with cameras.

Ganapati pointed out at a narrow opening to an inner chamber. Ganapati located an paw print in the moist floor, our untrained eyes could not pick it. Manju shone the torch at that point. We heard a low growl, a low but a nasty sounding growl for about 5 or 6 seconds. Balu asked Manju to switch off the torch. Now it was confirmed, we were guests and disturbing our beasty host.  We were tense but none of us panicked.

We decided to move towards the mouth for our own safety.

Close to where Balu is, to his left we found several prints of birds' feet.

Ganapati said we can see the rocks of Krishnapur caves from a point on these hills, let's go there. The path went up the roof of the cave. Ganapti, Manju and Balu are standing in the footpath used by animals to descend into the cave.

View of the valley floor and a smaller cave opposite the bigger cave.

After few minutes walk, we were at the highest point of Talewadi. The three small mounds above Balu's and Manju's heads are the rocks of Krishnapur. We are 800m and Krishnapur is 200m above the sea level. We need to descend 600m to reach Krishnapur!

Hope the day comes soon.

A natural stone arch. Miniature version of Sidlaphadi cave.

Ganapti was leading us to another cave. We were walking a crescent shaped valley floor. My guess- during rainy season a stream would be flowing here.

We dare not enter this cave, looks like a perfect home for bears and serpents. We rested here for a while. Earlier, while in the bigger cave I had told lighting a beedi scares away animals. Balu lit a beedi, we cautioned him, a carpet of dry leaves covered the ground we stood on. the cave is at the beginning is a slope. The caves terrace is a part of the valley floor we descended from.

This tree is supposed to be a favorite play spot for tigers. Young tigers would be often found here. Ganapati claimed to have seen tigers running few paces and leaping on to the tree. They would sharpen their claws on the trunk and would lie on the branches. I believed his words. The tree has a kind of look which looks inviting to big cats.

Ganapati is a very patient man. I should spend few days in Talewadi, live peacefully away from the all the madness . We stopped at the cave we had seen from the bigger cave's terrace. I was glad Manju and Balu were enjoying the trip :)

On the way back to the hamlet, we stopped by to see another smaller cave.

We saw something we can never see in cites. A very different type of flower- white, blue and red.

The blue ones seem to the younger ones. The blue top falls off exposing the red inside.

We had crossed over this gully to explore two smaller caves. We spent few minutes examining the types of rocks. These  are ligneous rocks. We could see charcoal grey pebbles and stones, very heavy for their sizes. I picked a few for my collection at home.

We were hungry but something kept us moving. We headed towards the hamlet. Thanks to Rajshekhar Jahaj for suggestion to visit Talewadi.

This story will continue in the next post.

.........

Detail: Talewadi - caves and a cascade

0 Degaon, a tribal hamlet

Krishnapur caves and Bheemaghad fort caught my attention. I badly wanted to see them. I located the caves on Wikimapia and checked out possible routes. The closest village marked was Talewadi, entire area is thick jungle with open patches for hamlets. I could see some roads but they could be dirt tracks. I checked altitudes in Google Terrain. Talewadi is at 800m and Krishnapur at 200m. Terrific! I was doubtful if a motorable road existed between Talewadi and Krishnapur. Anyway, I decided to go on a scouting trip to check what's possible and how to take out im from impossible. I asked Manju to join me.

April 4, 2012.

Balu the cabby was late by more half an hour. We left Dharwad by 6AM. By 7-30 we were at Khanapur. We had hot idlis and bhaji at Hotel Chetan at Rumewadi  cross. On enquiring routes to Krishnapur, the hotel  owner told us to go to Talewadi but another man told us to check out route from Gawali. Hotel owner said that a road does exist between Talewadi and Krishnapur. Thank you, we'll go to Talewadi.

Now we were driving through forest area, road wasn't that good. We could see several farm houses. We were wondering how structures are allowed to be built in forest area. The road we were on connected with Anmod, we had to look out for a smaller to our right. At one spot, we saw three peacocks, one had spread it's feathers, a lovely sight that lasted few seconds. Then the peacocks vanished into the trees. Balu said if we had not stopped they would not have moved from that place, they get suspicious when vehicles stop. A bus overtook us. After a while we saw a forest check post to our right with a dirt road behind it. There was no guard in sight but there was a man standing there with two bags. On asking for directions to Talewadi, he asked us to take the dirt route, its about 8km distance.Then he asked if we could drop him enroute at Degaon. You are welcome.

Our new friend is Rajashekhar Jahaj, a teacher in Government Marathi Primary School at Devgaon. He had just got down from the bus which overtook our cab. Our first question to him was what would he have done to reach Devgaon. Walk. We were zapped- walk 6kms with 2 bags in hands! He told he was lucky. He knows a teacher who has to walk 15km to reach his school. Rajashekhar hails from Belgaum. He goes home during weekends.  I was awe-struck by these people, they work so hard to impart knowledge to the younger generation and make a living. We've got to learn from them. 

About a kilometer inside, the road got rough, we had to get off the car so that the engine chamber does not  scrape rocks. We walked almost a kilometer on and off. We passed by a collapsed bridge, it was damaged by a ore laden truck. Few years back a mine operated here. Environmentalists got it closed. Thank God, the forest is saved. The 6km drive lasted around 15 minutes, we were at Devgaon.

That's our friend Rajashekhar inviting us into his school. The boy standing next to Rajashekhar is Sachin, an ex-student.

As we entered  the hamlet we had seen a bunch of kids but most of them had vanished by the time we  walked few steps to the school. Rajashekhar told us they shy away from strangers.

Devgaon is a hamlet nestled in a shallow valley at the tip of a plateau. Konkani and Marathi are the spoken languages. Most elders speak Kannada. Devgaon has no electricity supply but it has BSNL phones working on CDMA technology. No other networks operate here. Telecom companies wanted to install mobile towers but environmentalists put a stop to that. Thanks to them, birds and insects can carry on living normally.

These sweet little kids were sweeping the school's front yard and watering plants. They seem to have high regard for their teacher. I could feel the bonding between them :) God bless them.

I fell in love with this logo years ago. Happy little kids riding a pencil.

We had spoken about the purpose of this visit- to see Krishnapur caves. He said it's a 21km walk from here. It's best to start early morning, it would be a 3 to 4 hours walk. I asked him if we could stay here one night. He showed a little room which  he and two other teachers share. He told us we could stay here if we were OK with it. Of course, that would be fine. No mosquitoes here :)

I asked if there's any ancient temple. Answer was no temple but there are few ancient idols. He offered us to show us. We walked through the hamlet, crossed a stream, not much water at this time of the year, walked through paddy fields ...a short video.

That's a temple. Probably the first thatched roof temple I'm seeing.

A collection of idols placed along the hut's perimeter. The idol to the extreme right is Gajalakshmi.

Rajashekhar gave out more names but I can't remember any of them.

Closer look at Gajalakshmi.

Sachin standing next to a pole which gets felled on Holi day. This pole is erected few days before Holi and decorated with leaves and flowers.

On the way back we take a different path back to the hamlet. We stop by a paddy field right next to the stream. It's a undercover stream because it's lined by tress both sides.

Back at the school; it has two class rooms and about 21 students. I, II and III standard students sit in this room and the other room is for IV and V standard.

Every bit of space is utilized. These teachers are truly dedicated to their profession.

Another video made at the school.

Sachin gets hot tea for us. I was touched by their hospitality. It was time classes commenced, I decided to leave. I had no mind to disturb their routine. The front yard was buzzing with kids ...sweeping and watering plants. I asked them to pose for a picture. Many were so shy they would go into the classes and Rajashekhar had to coax them join the group.

Knowing our interest, Rajashekhar suggested us to check out a natural cave at Talewadi. The cave is large enough to accommodate 20 trucks. We exchange phone numbers and say bye to all kids. I wish I had brought some gifts for these kids. I would love to come here again.

Talewadi is about 4kms from here.

.........

Detail: Degaon, a tribal hamlet

0 Caves of Ulavi: Akalagavi

While waiting for Durga and Deepak, I spent time in the watch tower looking down into the valley.


I guessed Akalgavi must be in those rocks. Does not look very far off.

Durga refused to move from this place, she did not want any more walking for the day. I started off alone. About half a kilometer down the path there was a junction, tired looking people sitting where ever they could park themselves. To the left was a staircase going down the hill ...that's the way to Chilume Honda. Honda means pond. It's a natural fresh water spring. People believe that it has special properties and cure certain health problems.


Every couple of minutes air bubbles rise out from the pond bed. The bed looks like ash. I heard some boys speaking that anybody who gets into the pond gets sucked in.


When I first heard about Chilume Honda from the locals, I was expecting a huge pond. ...I decided to move on towards Akalagavi, meaning Cow's Cave. Again the path was downhill. Just the sounds of the forest ...could birds singing but never could spot them. Suddenly I heard a bunch of noisy boys. They were shouting and screaming shattering the peace. One of them was shouting 'howla howlaaa'. I was wishing these guys would keep quiet. No, these guys were young and had all the energy in them.

The dirt track ended and cemented steps with rails started. I steps were steep flanked by really tall trees. The lower I went taller the trees got. I could see the rocks now, rising high into the air and the trees seem to be competing with the rough n tough looking rocks ...and the trees seem to be winning over the rocks.

The group of boys pass me, they are almost running down the stairs while I was taking them one at a time. Soon they go out of sight. The stairs don't seem to end at all and I was wondering how much more to go I'll have to climb back :( Finally the stairs stopped, a massive rock formation ended the path. The cave's mouth was about 20 feet above from where I was standing. The boys had already climbed up there. I climbed up the metal stairs slowly, it was held in place by a 3-stranded cable, cannot say when it might give up. The rocks looked pretty slippery, I took every step with extreme care. The boys also guided me and lent hands. There they are... posing on the right side of the mouth. Shivanand (extreme left, back side) knew his way into the cave's tummy.


The throat was really narrow, one at a time, we had to lie down and crawl in for about 15 feet and then we could sit up. It was dark, we switched on our mobile phones. The next 15 feet we had to move on our bottoms, a small puddle of water, our hands and feet picked up slush. It was getting warmer with every step ahead. We were breathing faster. The passage curved and we were in the belly. Now we could stand up straight. It was pitch dark. I can say it was the darkest moment of my life. In the mobile phone's light Shivanand pointed at the ceiling, they looked like cow's teats. that's why the name Akalagavi. Akala means cow and Gavi means cave in North Karnataka Kannada.


Inside there was a side chamber attached to the main chamber. Unlike the main chamber, the side chamber's floor was uneven. Some where in this room, in the ceiling water was dripping down.



Back in the main chamber, we deeper but the width narrowed gradually and see saw light, we were at the other end of the cave. It was nice to see light again and breath in fresh air.



Way back was easier since we already knew the way but the last part was little dicey for me. As I crawled out and my head was out of the throat, what lay in front was a downward slope, one slip and the fall would end only after some 25 feet! I crawled out very slowly and then positioned my palms into small pits and swung out my legs. Still there was no chance of sitting up. I moved side ways towards my right where mouth widened. I was breathless and sweating like crazy. My hands, feet, tee-shirt and khakis were saturated in sweat and coted with a layer of black dust from the rocks. Even the odor was kind of strong but did not really bother me much. I looked like an locomotive driver.





We climbed down slowly and I was bracing up for the challenge that lay ahead. A steep climb which will go on for an eternity. Normally I do not drink water in the middle of a climb and this time also I did not even though I knew I had lost lot of fluids. I asked the boys to go ahead and went up, one step at a time, sweat pouring out, even my hair was drenched in my sweat, I would stop every 15/20 steps, climb again, stop again... every muscle in my body ached. It was as though my body was squeezed. Finally I made it to the end of the steps, sat down and drank a liter of water. I felt better after about 5 minutes, I resumed my way up the dirt path, this was much better than those steps, stopping to rest and drink water, sweat pouring out... Finally I saw the Santro and Durga saw me shouted "Siddesh is back, Siddesh was back". Deepak and Durga saw my avataar and I told them about the little adventure. Except for the backpack everything on me was soaked in sweat and coated with a fine black soil.

Since morning, I must have walked 10 kilometers and sweat out 3 or 4 liters. I was tired, I needed a bath desperately. Deepak had to spread a newspaper on the seat so that dirt on me does not get transfered to his car. Back at Chaitanya we all bathed, changed into fresh clothes, had lunch, visited the temple and started our journey back to Dharwad.

.........

Detail: Caves of Ulavi: Akalagavi